Monday, April 30, 2018

It is with deep sadness that I post on the passing of Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee (Hangul: 이준구 / Hanja: 李俊九), widely acknowledged as the Father of American Tae Kwon Do.
As reported earlier on http://www.jhoonrhee.com/ :

With a heavy heart I want to announce the passing of my father, Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, this morning at 7:25 am. He was with his wife Theresa and daughter Meme. Information about his Memorial service will be posted later this week.

-Chun Rhee

Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee was born on January 7, 1932 in a small village of Sanyangri, Asan, Korea. His mother was Kay Im Rhee (1906-1994) and his father was Jinhoon Rhee (1909-1965). GM Rhee had 2 older sisters and started lifting weights when he was 6 until he was 13 when he moved to Seoul to enroll in high school. During high school, GM Rhee taught himself the violin as well as the harmonica and learned to play songs by ear. When GM Rhee was 14 on August 15, 1945, Korea gained its independence from Japanese rule.

In 1947, at the age of 15, GM Rhee started on his martial arts path by joining the Chung Do Kwan academy of Grandmaster Won Kook Lee and learning Tae Kwon Do. He earned his brown belt by his eleventh grade and after watching an American movie, dreamed of teaching Tae Kwon Do in the USA. GM Rhee opened his first dojang, Jhoon Rhee School of Tae Kwon Do on June 28, 1962 at the age of 30 located at 2035 K Street NW, Washington, DC.

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Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee with Bruce Lee

GM Rhee met Bruce Lee in August 1964 when they met at the Ed Parker's International Karate Championships in Long Beach, California. Rhee was 32 and Lee was 23. They visited each other regularly and exchanged letters for almost 10 years. In May 1966 both GM Rhee and Bruce Lee convinced Joe Lewis to compete as Lewis was against tournament competition. Lewis was voted twice as the greatest fighter in karate history. In 1969, after seeing a student take a hard kick resulting in broken cheekbones, he invented safety equipment which allowed full-contact training/competition and reduced the risk of serious injury. In the 1970's, he published his 5-volume series of Tae Kwon Do books: Chon-Ji of Tae Kwon Do Hyung; Tan-Gun and To-San of Tae Kwon Do Hyung; Won-Hyo and Yul-Kok of Tae Kwon Do Hyung; Chung-Gun and Toi Gye of Tae Kwon Do Hyung; and Hwa-Rang and Chung-Mu of Tae Kwon Do Hyung. In the summer of 1973, with the help of Bruce Lee, GM Rhee starred in the Hong Kong film, When Taekwondo Strikes aka The Sting of the Dragon. GM Rhee played GM Lee, the underground leader of a patriot group in Korea, occupied by the Japanese at the time. GM Rhee also wrote the synopsis for the film which the plot was based off of. GM Rhee was back in the US by July 19, 1973 after filming wrapped. Bruce Lee called to say that the movie was edited and ready for release. The next day Bruce Lee passed away. GM Rhee was one of the last people that spoke to Bruce Lee. GM Rhee met Muhammad Ali in 1975, before his championship fight with Joe Frazier dubbed "The Thrilla in Manila". Rhee worked as the head coach of Muhammad Ali for his fight against British champion Richard Dunn, whom Ali kocked out. He also was the head coach for Ali's famous boxing vs wrestling match in Japan vs champion Antonio Inoki.

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Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee with Muhammad Ali

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Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee with Jackie Chan

GM Rhee started his website, listed below, in April of 2000. Within 45 days, it was the world's most popular online martial arts community. In 2005, at the age of 73, Rhee underwent heart surgery which lasted 11 hours. He had been living with a heart murmur since he was born and suffered a stroke during the heart surgery.

I'm posting the full movie "When Taekwondo Strikes" (1973) (aka Sting of the Dragon Master) in which Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee starred with Angela Mao and Sammo Hung, in his honor.

Synopsis

The story is about the Korea under Japanese rule during World War II. A Korean nationalist played by Carter Wong gets into a fight with some non-Korean Japanese people and is chased into a church. The priest there is captured and tortured. Trying to secure his release, the leader of the resistance, Jhoon Rhee is himself captured and tortured by the Japanese. Carter Wong, Angela Mao and Anne Winton have to now try and rescue him. This leads to an explosive climax with the heroes having to fight the likes of Wong In Sik (Hwang In-Shik), Sammo Hung and Kenji Kazama.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Posting the twenty first episode of the TV series, Stingray, to mirror the airdate from 31 years ago on this date of Apr 17, 1987.

Series Background

"Ray" is a shadowy character with a mysterious 'secret agent' past. People in trouble often come to him for help, since he has a lot of important and powerful contacts. He refuses to be paid for his services; however, those seeking his assistance must promise him a favor. Some time in the future, Ray will come to them and ask to collect on that favor, giving them some task that is often arduous and/or dangerous. The title of the show comes from the vintage Corvette Stingray that Ray drives.

"Stingray's" real name and actual occupation are never revealed in any of the installments; throughout the series, any attempt any other character makes, in any installment, to track down his identity inevitably and invariably leads in the wrong direction and/or to a dead end.

Enjoy!

Episode Synopsis

Ray travels to Vietnam where an exploding bomb blinds him, hindering his search for a statue which can provide clues to the whereabouts of American MIA's.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Posting the twentieth episode of the TV series, Stingray, to mirror the airdate from 31 years ago on this date of Apr 10, 1987.

Series Background

"Ray" is a shadowy character with a mysterious 'secret agent' past. People in trouble often come to him for help, since he has a lot of important and powerful contacts. He refuses to be paid for his services; however, those seeking his assistance must promise him a favor. Some time in the future, Ray will come to them and ask to collect on that favor, giving them some task that is often arduous and/or dangerous. The title of the show comes from the vintage Corvette Stingray that Ray drives.

"Stingray's" real name and actual occupation are never revealed in any of the installments; throughout the series, any attempt any other character makes, in any installment, to track down his identity inevitably and invariably leads in the wrong direction and/or to a dead end.

Enjoy!

Episode Synopsis

Ray helps the principal of an urban high school prevent a gang war from erupting.

Tuesday, April 03, 2018

Posting the nineteenth episode of the TV series, Stingray, to mirror the airdate from 31 years ago on this date of Apr 3, 1987.

Series Background

"Ray" is a shadowy character with a mysterious 'secret agent' past. People in trouble often come to him for help, since he has a lot of important and powerful contacts. He refuses to be paid for his services; however, those seeking his assistance must promise him a favor. Some time in the future, Ray will come to them and ask to collect on that favor, giving them some task that is often arduous and/or dangerous. The title of the show comes from the vintage Corvette Stingray that Ray drives.

"Stingray's" real name and actual occupation are never revealed in any of the installments; throughout the series, any attempt any other character makes, in any installment, to track down his identity inevitably and invariably leads in the wrong direction and/or to a dead end.

Enjoy!

Episode Synopsis

Ray gets drawn into a case of a drugged-up TV star, Ty Gardiner, who tries to hire him despite Ray's misgivings. Turns out Gardiner's name and celebrity were used by his unscrupulous partner to rip off both the Mafia and the Yakuza. Now that the partner has disappeared, Gardiner is left holding the bag with both sides trying to kill him, and the Feds looking for him as well

Site Under Construction

Slowly but surely I've implemented changes to the site's look and functionality. I'm sure you have noticed the changes.Ecstatic that I've finally been able to successfully update my site closer more in line with my vision of it.

Not sure if it will be the final look of the site or not, but the Sojourn of Septillion Steps with respect to the site's look has already taken quite a few steps beyond the first!

I will still be endeavoring to put up information I think will benefit your martial arts training as well as your self-defense. I sincerely thank you for visiting/reading!